Charm

Chapter 8

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*María's POV*

Casita's cupboard doors banged open and close knocking me out of my anxious thoughts. I look over to the Paella pan and see it fully cooked and colourful. I take my wooden spoon and mix it gently just to be sure. I gulp. Casita's tiles started clapping together. I smile.

'Thanks Casita' I mumble. 'Now let's go set the table' I take the pan off the stove and proceed outside to set up a the table nicely. 'I hope they'll like this....'

*Mirabel's POV*

After another tough day in Encanto of me trying to prove myself I join mi familia and we walk back to Casita together. Everyone talking happily together. While I was lost in my own thoughts.

Why did Abuela suddenly need maids?

Victoria, Sofia and Olivia I don't like at all!

María is sweet! My new best friend!

But why-

'Oof!' I fall to the ground as I walked into Lusia. I stand up and realise everyone was stopped in their tracks and staring straight ahead. 'Guys? What's wron-' I stop mid sentence. I walk around Lusia and see a beautiful set table with little fairy lights around the table to brighten the surroundings. The table was covered with a yellow table cloth and on top of that was cups and silver cutlery. The table was decorated with little cacti placed down the spine of the table. With the cacti was a few baskets of bread and little dips and jugs of water. Fifteen chairs surrounded the beautifully set table. My jaw was too the floor.

A wiff of a delectable dish came into the air. My mouth started to drool. The smell came closer and closer until it was placed I the centre of the table. I looked up from the table to see María standing at the end of the table with a nervous smile on her face and her right hand went to play with her necklace.

'H-hola! Ehm....it was my night to make dinner so em...disfruten en (dig in)' she said shyly. I jump with joy and run over to her and giver her the biggest hug ever. She squeaks at my sudden force but hugs me back none the less.

'Gracias mejor amiga!! (thank you best friend)' I exclaim and hug her tighter. She laughs.

'De nada (your welcome) Mirabel' she says. We bothpull away and burst out laughing for no reason. We turn back to mi familia and see them still staring at the table and the food. I practically hear María gulp. 'I-Is something wrong?' She asks in a shaky voice. They all snap out of their day dreams at her voice.

'What of course not!' Luisa says.

'It looks amazing María!' Isabela compliments. I widen my eyes at Isabela. Did she say something nice to someone besides Abuela!?

'You really outdid yourself mi amor!' Camilo says as he strolls up to her about to kiss her hand but I pull her away and give Camilo a warning glance. I see Isabela and Dolores do the same.

'What is going on?' Abuela asks comes out of nowhere. She looks around at us all then to the table and the food then back to us. 'Who did this?'

María raises her hand cautiously. 'Me Señora'

A bright smile breaks out across Abuela's face. 'You outdid yourself María! This is just.....wow' she says as she walks over to her spot at the top of the table. She looks back around to everyone. 'Well are we going to waste María's food or?'

We all quickly walk over to our seats. I bring Marìa over to sit next to me and next to her Dolores. We all sit down and take our share of Paella. Before we could eat it though Oliva, Sofia and Victoria strode out of the house happily chatting and giggling to each other. They freeze when they see us. They quietly but quickly walk over to the table and take the three remaining seats at the end of the table, Victoria quickly taking the seat next to Camilo and the other girls giving her a glare as she held their glare with a smug smirk. They then quickly dished out their portion of the Paella. Even though everyone took a huge ladel full. Now we took our bite. María anxiously looked around at us for any reaction at all.

Camilo broke out into a huge grin. 'Its astonishingly good!'

We all broke and started complimenting María's dish.

'Wow, it's amazing!' Dolores says as she takes another spoonful.

'I could eat this everyday!' Mi Mama says as she keeps eating.

'Acordado (agreed)' Mi Papa says.

'Its heavenly María!' Isabela says as she adds some paprika to it. Luisa didn't say anything she just scoffed her whole bowl down.

'I don't have words to describe it María! It's amazing!' I says. She smiles brightly, her smile lights up the whole table. A small tear slips.

'It truly is divine María' Abuela says as she politely eats another spoonful. María gives a small head bow and turns to me again and gives me a hug. Dolores joins and we burst into giggles.

I look across the table and see Camilo staring at us with with a small smile on his face. I raise a brow and he turns away from us with bright cheeks. I look next to Camilo and see the three girls glaring at the bowl of food. Bicho raro (Weirdo's)

(Time skip til after they finish their dinner)

I help María wash the dishes.

After María's amazing dinner she offered to clean the dishes as she made everything. We reluctantly agreed but I offered to help her. We messed around the while time and before we knew it, it was midnight. We decided to get everything done now or we will be up for the rest of the night and that won't be good for anyone as we both have a lot of things to do tomorrow.

I bid María goodnight then joined Antonio in the nursery. Before I fell asleep a thought came into my head;

Why was Camilo staring at us like that?

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Sorry I was a little late publishing this just been a rough day but I wanted to get something out for you lovely people so I hope you like it!